PENTATHALON ENTRY: DIVISION 2, TEXTILE AND NEEDLE ARTS: DYEING

1. Title of Entry	Period Dye Project prepared for a Period Tunic Set and other small projects.
2. Audience	Cloth in this particular entry would probably be used by or for working folks; with the exception of cochineal, all the dyes used in this entry are easily foraged.
3. Era	1300-1575. As this part of the greater project was focused on attempting to replicate period dyes from many eras, the scope of the project covers a fairly large period of time.
4. Where	Recipes for the dyes in this project come from many places; Germany, England, Italy, the Netherlands.
5. Tools & Materials	Cotton cloth, wool yarn, linen cloth, iron pans, enamel pans, tin pans, stainless steel pans, alum, buckthorn berries, butternut and black walnut hulls, onion skins, wild grape skins, goldenrod, dandelion, cochineal, copper wire, vinegar, wooden spoons.
6. Techniques	Pre-mordanting, pot mordanting, Post-mordanting, overdye.
7. Appendix	Annotated References

1-4. This project is an attempt to replicate colors that may be found with ease by the average period person, were they to attempt to dye their own cloth. I was far more interested in replicating the experience of foraging and dyeing than attempting to recreate the colors available to those who could afford to import their cloth. The receipts come from a wide variety of sources—Germany for the nut hull dyes, England for the sap green dye, et cetera—and some are just experiments based on plant materials I knew were available in period though reading herbals. The era covered by this project is wide, as I was more interested in trying things out than dyeing within the context of a particular period.

5. Materials include the following Old World plants that are also native to or have naturalized in North America: goldenrod, grape, onion, buckthorn, and dandelion. The nut hulls I used are from New World nut trees (Butternut and Black Walnut); I have used them as a substitute for the nut hulls from Old World trees, as there are no old world nut trees growing in my area—can’t forage what isn’t there. Cochineal is a New World insect used to make paint and dye in European countries in the 16^th century. The strength of the dyes produced by cochineal quickly replaced the dyestuffs previously used to create a carmine red, kermes and Lac.

I dyed wool, cotton, and linen cloths because these products are all natural cloth materials available in period. The linen is not on display, however, as I found out too late that it had rayon in it, making it appropriate as an A&S entry. However, I have included information about this part of my experiment because of the valuable learning experience that it was—linen is darn hard to dye, even with very strong natural dyes. I have currently seeded flax in my yard, and someday, when that flax is cloth, I will likely try again, but for now, I’ll just buy linen already colored!

I tried to use pots that were made of materials available in period within the limits of my kitchen; I did choose stainless in one instance because I’d burnt up the enamel pan and wanted something that I would be certain was non-reactive. I cooked up the dyes on my gas stove—fire regulations in my hometown prevent me from building a fire in my backyard, alas, and the gas stove was then the best I could do.

6. Procedures and techniques: I have attached a section detailing what I did with each individual dye immediately after this section.

General Comments: I would most usually address issues brought up at the regional level by writing the information into the body of the documentation, but on this particular entry, I received some comments that struck me as peculiar, and so I want to address them precisely.

COCHINEAL: This is the dried body of an insect, {Latin name here}. I obtained this from a merchant at Pennsic; this is the period way for most dyers to obtain this dyestuff; it would not typically be foraged, as it is a New World, hot climate insect. It was used in the 16^th century to produce a bluish red, very like Kermes or Lac. In this very interesting specimen, however, the dye bath produced a heather-like purple on a small skein of loosely spun, 100% woolen yarn. This was a surprise to me; previous work with cochineal as a paint produced the expected Carmine color. I ground the bug bodies and added them to boiling water, to boil the color out. When the dyebath seemed to be about as dark as it was going to get, I added two test strands of yarn, one without mordant, and one with alum as the mordent. While one yarn appeared a darkish red and the other a black-cherry sort of color upon removal, both strands were the same color after rinsing. To save myself a step, then, I added the alum directly to the dye bath and, once it had dissolved, added the wet wool. I allowed the yarn to simmer for about an hour and then removed the dyebath from the heat; I allowed the yarn to cool in the dyebath overnight. I rinsed it out the next morning, and thereafter allowed it to dry. Although the color is not what I expected, I really like it; it's such a soft, beautiful color; I will try to make lucet cord with it and use the lucet cord as a trim on the tunic neck.

BUTTERNUT: Nut hulls were used in period to produce a brown or a black dye. This nut was the fruit of the Butternut tree. I gathered windfall nuts from the tree in my neighborhood. I smashed the hulls and threw them in water, allowed them to soak in water for three days. Boiled dyebath in stainless steel and added wet cotton cloth. I did not use a mordant. Boiled for three hours, then allowed cloth to cool in dyebath. Next day, removed cloth, rinsed cloth, allowed cloth to dry. I really like the brown I got from this dyebath, and note that the color has remained consistent.

BUCKTHORN: I gathered ripe berries from the Buckthorn tree in the backyard of my workplace. The buckthorn tree is a native of Europe that has naturalized in the northern climes of the New World. While I have found no dyer's reference to buckthorn as a dyestuff, it was fairly well known as a source of paint, the color called Sap Green. I decided to experiment, to see what I would get on cloth. I boiled buckthorn berries, added alum. Put wet, white, loosely woven cotton in and let sit overnight. Rinsed. Dried. Found that an unseen stain on the cloth had turned a darker green, and that some sections of the cloth had not taken the dye well. Rewarmed dye, cut out stained section, put back into dye bath. Sure wish I knew what that stain was, as it sure took the green well. A second dip in the dye bath evened out the color, for the most part, but did not increase the intensity of the color. The cloth was a pale green. This was a surprise; as a paint, this dye bath produced a really good batch of sap green (paint produced after cloth dyeing was completed). I’d like to try this on wool or silk, to see if I get a darker color.

ONION SKINS: While I have been given period references to the use of onion skins as dyestuff (Habutzel, 1998?), I have lost the specific quotes. I saved the skins of yellow onions that I had purchased for culinary use. There were two separate dye sessions using onion skins. One, prepared as onion skins boiled in an enamel pot and mordanted with alum, produced a clear, bright yellow on cotton aidia cloth, but the color has since dulled a bit.

Second session: boiled yellow onion skins in the enamel pan, got a red brown, which was surprising, since the last time I dyed with yellow onion skins, I got a clear yellow even before adding alum. I mordanted this batch with water boiled with vinegar in a tin pan. Got a tan with a slight red cast. Disappointing, was looking for the yellow, but the dye bath was definitely brown before mordanting. I let the bath cool overnight. Boiling the dye the second day in the tin pan, the dye began to turn a really nice reddish brown, but the addition of the vinegar morphed the color to a clear red-brown that dyed white cotton a reddish brown.

OAK LEAVES AND BARK: While walking the neighborhood, I picked up windfall leaves and branches from oak trees. I boiled this in a stainless steel pan with copper wire, hoping that some of the copper molecules would migrate into the dye bath as a second mordant (i.e., in addition to the tannin present in the oak). Got a pleasing brown, not very dark, used the usual dye bath procedures.

WILD GRAPE SKINS: Chosen because I noted that grape juice stains, and thought to myself: "Hey, surely the people working in the vineyards must have noticed the same thing. What happens if you try to dye with it?" Used grapes in two sessions.

Session 1: boiled whole grapes harvested from the wild vines in the backyard of my place of employment. Dyed cotton aidia cloth with this; used no mordant, based on the assumption that the tannin in the grapes would be sufficient. Got a very powerful blue-violet. However, after sitting for a year, the color morphed from this powerful blue-violet to a strong brown. Some areas of the cloth--the folded inner corners--retained the blue-violet color, but this has faded out, too.

Session 2: Put alum-mordanted cotton into a new dye bath; got a violet with more red to it than in previous session, but after one rinse, this color morphed to a gray with blue notes. In time, this color also morphed to a tannin-type brown, although not as intense as the brown of the aidia cloth. Currently still has some patches of blue-gray mixed amongst the brown.

GOLDENROD: There are several species of goldenrod that are native to Europe. I chose to get the yellow from the goldenrod rather than buying a quantity of weld or saffron from a natural dye source, although dyer’s manuals in period refer to these dyes as preferred yellows. This use of goldenrod made sense to me; in period, if one is in Britain and wants blue, one doesn't turn the nose up at the woad in the yard if one can't obtain indigo. I gathered the goldenrod from the local fields and roadsides, and boiled just the flowers in stainless steel to obtain the dye. Because I was looking for that bright yellow I had expected to get from the onion skins, I mordanted with alum straight into the pot. I added wet cotton to the dye bath and let it boil, then allowed the cloth to cool in the dye bath overnight. What a yellow! And it remains consistent! My goodness, if I got such a strong yellow on cotton, I can hardly wait to see what I might get on silk or wool! That will be my dyer's experiment for Fall 2001.

OVERDYE EXPERIMENT WITH GRAPES AND GOLDENROD: I decided to take the piece of sap green cloth that had the powerful stain that took the color so well. I first overdyed it with the grape skin dye bath; this turned gray. I didn't want anymore grayish cloth, so I washed it and then added it to the goldenrod dye bath. This made a darker yellow that has eventually faded out; the darker areas are now again visable, and apparently the grape skin dye bath, no matter what is done to it, is so fugitive that it will effect any top dying, as well.

BLACK WALNUT HULLS: Again, nut hulls were used in period to obtain brown and black dyes. These nut hulls were windfall nuts foraged (with permission) from a neighbor's yard. I soaked these hulls in water for two weeks. The water turned very black, and could have been used straight for the dye bath. I experimented with small samples of cotton cloth and 3 small dye batches: one batch with powdered iron, one with alum, and one straight. I put plain cloth samples into each of the dye baths. Additional, I added pre-mordanted cloth (one alum, one iron) to the straight dye bath. I also post-mordanted two of the plain samples in an alum bath and an iron bath. The results were consistent, no matter when the mordant was added to the cloth. The powdered iron made an uneven black, the alum made a nice, even brown very like the butternut, and the plain hull dye made a dull brown. I really preferred the alum bath, and so I attempted to overdye natural-colored linen with white flecks in a bath of alum and walnut hulls. This made the cloth slightly darker, but did not make the color even, as I had hoped.

DANDELION: While dandelion was certainly a plant known in period and used in a variety of ways, I have not yet found evidence of its use as a period dye. Nonetheless, I gave it a try. First, I boiled the flowers, put alum in the bath, wet my aidia cloth, and dyed it. The color came out as a pale yellow. A second bath made with both flowers and leaves and mordanted with alum produced a pale yellow-green on aidia cloth. I did not like either color sufficiently well to try again with a larger batch of cloth.

Amman, J. The Book of Trades. German, 1568. Dover reprint, New York, 1973. Notable for the illustration of the dyer at work, although most information about the trade must be inferred from the woodcut. The text is unhelpful.

Bemiss, Elijah The Dyer’s Companion. Dover. New York; 1973. Reprint of 1815 edition; while it is not a pre-1601 primary source, this primary source provides suggestions and information on dying from a time when there was no choice but to dye with natural materials. It does have many reciepts that are essentially the same as those found in period, suggesting that some dye processes did not change over the course of several hundred years.

Borradaile, V. & R., translators. The Strasberg Manuscript: A Medieval Painter’s Handbook. Alec Tiranti. London:1966. 15^th century German manual. Contains fairly specific instructions for making dye-process paints and for dying yarn or linen cloth.

Cennini, C. The Craftman’s Handbook. D. V. Thompson, Translator. Dover. New York: 1960. 15^th Century Italian treatise on a variety of arts performed by painters; includes sections on coloring cloth and stamping patterns with various dyes.

Dyers at Work in the Late 15^th Century. Illumination from unidentified book of 1482, facsimile publication in Delamare, F. & B. Guineau, Colors: The Story of Dyes and Pigments. S. Hawkes, Translator. Abrams, New York:2000. Concise summation, with period illustrations, of the history of and current knowledge regarding pigments and dyes—notable here for the illustration culled from an illuminated manuscript showing dyers at work.

Gerad, J. Gerard’s Herbal: The History of Plants. M. Woodward, ed. Senate. London: 1994. Edited version of the massive Elizabethian herbal by John Gerard. Useful for checking for period availability of plants, although uses suggested in the Herbal tend toward the medicinal. For this project, confirmation that goldenrod was, in fact, readily available for forage by the average person.

Leed, D. Dye Recipes from the Innsbruck Manuscript. http://www.dnaco.net/~aleed/dyes/ Translation of several dye receipts found in a 14^th century German manuscript. She has translated "lime water" as vinegar, but, based on my knowledge of period art materials, I would suggest that "lime water" is actually the water solution of calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)₂.H₂O, the water that separates out when slaking plaster.

Merrifield, M. P., translator. Medieval and Renaissance Treatises on the Arts of Painting. Dover. New York: 1967. Compendium of about 12 translated, period manuals (possibly 14^th, definitely 15th-16^th c.) dealing primarily with the products produced by artists. There is an entire section on dyeing, directed primarily towards dying cloth, leather, skins, and a variety of other items.

Smith, C. and J. Hawthorne. Mappe Clavicula: A Little Key to the World of Medieval Techniques. American Philosophical Society. Philadelphia:1974. Anonymous treatise of the 10^th century, containing a vast and varied number of receipts for making all sorts of things. Here, useful for numerous receipts regarding dyeing.

Theophilus. On Divers Arts. J. Hawthorne and C. Smith, translators. Dover. New York: 1979. 12^th century treatise on various arts; includes a section on dyeing bone with madder.

Thompson, D.V., Translator. De Arte Illuminandi. Yale UP. New Haven, CT: 1933 late 14^th century painters manual from Naples; contains instruction for several dye colorants; for this project, specifically contains sap green.

Thompson, J., transcriber. A Booke Of Secrets. In J. Thompson, editor. Medieval Inks. Caber Press. Portland, OR:1996. Transcription of a sixteenth century manuscript; contains several reciepts for dyeing feathers.

Casselman, K. L. Craft of the Dyer: Colour from Plants and Lichens. 2^nd Ed., Revised. Dover. New York, 1993. Modern instructions for natural dyes, pays particular attention to plants available in North America.

Habultzel, Margo Lynn (SCA: Morgan Cely Cain). Personal Correspondence. circa 1998. In demonstrating that onion skins were in fact used in period to dye, Ms. Habultzel posted several quotations from period sources on the SCA-ARTS mailing list. I kept that missive for many years—until a hard drive crash in October 2000. I have not yet located the archive that contains Ms. Habultzel’s letter; I continue to search for it.

Kramer, J. Natural Dye Plants and Processes. Another modern manual, has many useful illustrations